April 17, 2025 |
While the future of nightlife remains clouded by the smoke of uncertainty – with the ripple effect of lockdowns, strict council regulations and financial demands from landlords leading to the shuttering of 65 UK clubs in 2024 – our dancefloors have never been more exciting. Inside 10 Magazine Issue 74, we spotlight a series of DJs that are experts in their craft, taking eclectic sonics born on the British Isles to the biggest stages globally and providing soundtracks to the sort of nights out you’ll be telling your grandchildren about.
There aren’t enough hours in the day for the Manchester-based spinner Afrodeutsche. The BBC Radio 6 regular has played the biggest clubs and festivals, including a masterclass of a set at Block9’s IICON stage at Glastonbury in 2024. When she’s not head down in front of CDJs, she’s composing scores for films, theatre and fashion shows: she soundtracked Bottega Veneta’s SS23 catwalk and staged her own live show with an orchestra at Manchester International Festival in 2023.
What’s one track that will never leave your USB?
LFO’s Freak. I will play it at every opportunity.
What track never fails to fill a dancefloor?
It’s always The Prodigy’s Out of Space – people freak out when they hear it. There’s something sonic about The Prodigy that draws people to a dance floor and builds a euphoria that’s nostalgic, but also for now. I played No Good (Start the Dance) at Glastonbury and it was glorious. The Prodigy connect with so many people.
What’s been the best night out of your life?
When Aphex Twin asked me to support him at Printworks in London a few years ago and he curated the whole night. He was playing for the first time in a long time and put me on after him. I invited all of my friends who absolutely love Aphex and they were all front row bopping about. The room was bouncing. It was so cool. Then mid-set, I thought the sound guy had come on stage to tell me to turn down the music. I looked and nothing was in the red, I was ready to give attitude. But it wasn’t, it was Aphex [Richard James]. He’d come on stage and said to me, “I really love what you’re doing, keep going.” I was like, what am I doing? I put my hand out because I didn’t know whether to shake it or not. It’s like, what do you do when you meet him? Just to have that encouragement from someone you admire, but then to bring it. Everyone was bouncing, and guess what I played? LFO’s Freak.
What’s a project you’ve worked on that you are most proud of?
Most recently, I had a residency at Studio Richter Mahr, which is Max Richter’s studio [in rural Oxfordshire]. Yulia [Mahr], his wife, and I had two weeks there. I did a research music project for the first week and then the second week I was recording. He gives you access to everything, including his Steinway grand piano in this beautiful room that looks out to these grounds. I ended up writing what I think is going to be the next release. It’s all solo piano pieces that focus on cinematic music. It’s about 62 hours I got through recording. I’m already pleased with it because it was a lot of work that I was recalling from years ago. I can’t read music so none of the music I’ve written has been written down – it was this amazing experience where everything was just pouring out from this piano and me.
What does music mean to you?
Music is everything. It’s my language, the language of life. It’s how I can communicate on a dance floor with a DJ set, because there’s always a story in my sets. I’m often sympathetic to which country I’m playing in and what’s going on there, so I sense what listeners need. I never want to bring anyone to a place of darkness. It’s about joy and living. Music is like blood. I couldn’t live without it.
What shaped your musical taste?
My mum and her record collection. I ended up stealing a bunch of them when I left home, which I still have. They’ve still got her handwriting on them because back in the day you wrote your name on your records. There was such a mixture. Classical, a lot of pop music from the ’80s. Our access to pop music was things like Top of the Pops, which I absolutely loved. I was consuming every kind of audio I possibly could and my mum shaped it fundamentally. I always listened to everything, referenced it in something else and recorded everything on cassette.
What’s a musical turn-off?
Any pitch-controlled vocals. No thank you. It’s like someone is sticking needles in my ears, sonically. It causes such a physical reaction that I just don’t understand what you’re singing. And that’s not because you’re not a great singer, it’s because you’re using ridiculous pitch control. Just switch it off.
What makes a great night out?
If my feet are aching because I danced so much but I don’t know what time it is. That is the best night out.
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 74 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
THE FLOOR FILLERS
Creative Editor and Text PAUL TONER
Portrait ANNA STOKLAND
Fashion assistant GEORGIA EDWARDS
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU and SONYA MAZURYK
